Occupy protesters stay in front of the line of Denver Police officers at the corner of 14th Ave and Broadway in downtown Denver on Saturday.

The Occupy Denver march that peacefully led about 2,000 people through downtown Denver Saturday afternoon slowly began to dismantle into a crowd standing toe-to-toe with officers in riot gear.

Around noon, a diverse crowd gathered in Civic Center where the mood was cordial and the talk upbeat. In a shady spot under a group of trees, people drafted crude signs on the back of old design sheets, others dropped off professional banners stretching eight feet and listing websites.

Missy Berglundy brought her two young daughters to the march.

“I want my girls to learn they are able to do something to create change,” Berglundy said.

Her 5-year-old daughter, Virginia, boasted about coloring in the letters on a sign her mother was carrying.

“I don’t want to live in my mother’s basement after I graduate,” the sign read.

The congregation was more diverse than any seen at previous Occupy Denver events. Men in suits carried signs, younger protesters took photographs on iPhones and mothers pushed strollers through busy sidewalks.

Hugs were exchanged as the group gathered – not knowing where they were heading – and cheers erupted as chants of hope blared through a mega phone. Protesters were warned to stay on the sidewalks and given a list of questions to ask police if they were detained.

The group grew as it maneuvered its way through downtown Denver, people jumped off benches and ran out of restaurants to join. The protesters stopped twice, once in front of the Federal Reserve Bank on Curtis Street and once at the intersection of 17th and Lawrence streets where they pointed at high-rise buildings and chanted “We are the 99 percent!”

Alexandra Lee, 27 of Denver, broke her foot and leg in scooter accident, she said. Lee hobbled through the crowd, a sign mounted on each crutch.

The one on the left read: “Broke leg now I’m broke” and the other “99% need affordable health care.”

The march ended in Lincoln Park near the veteran memorial obelisk, the same park cleared in the early hours of Friday morning, resulting in 23 arrests.

Most demonstrators left, but a splinter group sat in the middle of Broadway taking turns speaking on a mega phone. When a food tent called the “Thunderdome” was pitched near the corner of Civic Center, demonstrators quit chanting and started shouting.

One man pushed a fellow protester into a bicycle after a scuffle.

Richard Klassen, 23 of Longmont, was arrested Friday morning and admitted to taunting authorities, but said he was willing to be arrested a second time to protect the tent.

“As long as we stick together and out number the police they will not move in,” Klassen said. “Fractions are staring to form; people look around and wonder what’s going on. That’s when the numbers dwindle and people move in”

At 5:30 Denver Police officers issued a warning to clear the park. Protesters linked arms, some screamed “shame” at the officers who were dressed in riot gear.

Officers finally moved in, pushing protesters off the sidewalk and into the park. Demonstrators tumbled into the tents and officers sprayed pepper spray into the crowd.

Elliot Gilmore, 20, said he was behind the tent when they were demolished.

“Kids are walking away hugging their rib cages,” Gilmore said

From the park about 1,000 protesters marched down the 16th Street Mall and through the bars and restaurants in Lower Downtown. After about an hour of winding through the streets, demonstrators agreed to disperse.

Signs were dropped in flower planters and wedged into street lights, others were discarded in the middle of the street where other protesters walked on them.

What people who are condemning this movement fail to realize is this is going global. People are beiginning to realize that corporations run our “democracies”. Can people in Rome, Chile, Australia, England, the Netherlands, Canada, Italy and Spain and elsewhere around the world all be wrong?

Goldenco5

You’ve been drinking too much of your username.

Gogo

The police have to deal with this stupidity in the midst of budget cuts. And yes there are a whole lot of stupid people all around the world.

Ygw

If Virginia does not want to live in her mother’s basement when she graduates, she should make sure she learns how to do something economically worthwhile.

Personally, as long as the protestors are littering, they don’t get my sympathy.